


Hale and Whole

by Pookaseraph



Category: Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
Genre: F/M, Getting Together, Loneliness, Touch-Starved, Touching
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-23
Updated: 2016-05-23
Packaged: 2018-06-10 08:07:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,645
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6946903
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pookaseraph/pseuds/Pookaseraph
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After so long without true human interaction, Rey and Luke both struggle to deal with the touches that make them feel human.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Hale and Whole

**Author's Note:**

> From https://tfa-kink.dreamwidth.org/1082.html?thread=99130#cmt99130
> 
> "So Rey has been alone for the majority of her life and Luke has been living alone on that island for how long now....?
> 
> I'd like to see these two not just training but dealing with the incidents of human touch and how it seems to move them. Cuddles encouraged!
> 
> Optional: If you want there to be make-outs, that would be just fine. ;)"

At first, Rey barely even noticed that Luke never touched her during his instruction. It was so natural to her that they would not touch; it was simply an unspoken adherence to the already written rules of her life. Before she met Finn, touching was so... alien, and all-together unpleasant. It was mixed with old memories and bitter tears, Unkar holding her arm so that she could not chase after the shuttle that left her on Jakku, the disgusting men at Niima Outpost that looked at her and saw a possession...

But it was different now. She had first found Finn's touches just as revolting as those of Unkar and the men of Niima, as she had no way to tell the difference, but as they grew closer she realized that the touch was... a comfort, an assurance that someone else was at her side. When they came to each other's aid they would hug, or press a hand to each other's shoulders, and Rey found it confusing but she soon learned to draw comfort from the gesture.

There was no such comfort to be had on Ahch-To with Luke, and for the first time in her life Rey knew there was something to miss.

Rey wondered at the distinction after she noticed it, and she wondered why Luke would shy away from touching her. After she began to look, she noted that he would sometimes _almost_ touch, his hand would reach out only for him to continue the gesture with the Force rather than his hand, or he would instruct her verbally.

Perhaps it was propriety that held him back. Finn, just like her, was not raised in a society to understand when it was and was not appropriate to touch. Where Rey had recoiled from all physical contact, Finn had adapted to it and embraced it fully. That couldn't be it, though, Han, Chewie, and Leia had all embraced her at one time or another, Leia even pulling her into a tight hug as they mourned the loss of her husband. No, to touch was something that was allowed of sentients, not something to fear.

That evening, when Luke ended their run-swim-climb around the island, Rey exhausted and wrung out from the effort, stood, straightened, and placed a hand on Luke's shoulder, giving it a firm squeeze before she headed off to bathe and meditate. "Thank you."

She felt the startled confusion from her Master, but it did not feel... wrong, just surprised.

The next day she did the same, and this time, rather than worry about his confusion, she instead realized how much she liked it. Luke was her teacher, and she could show him that she cared and appreciated everything he went through for her. She knew memories of his old students bubbled in his mind when he taught her, and yet he forced it down for her sake. Perhaps that was 'the Way of a Jedi' but it was not easy, and the least she could do was show her appreciation for how much Luke sacrificed to place himself as a Master again.

The day after, when he moved to reach out and adjust her grip on her lightsaber, he didn't stop, instead he brought his right hand to her wrist, and guided her through each barely perceptible moment of the transition between defense and attack.

"Careful of the elbow," he said, bringing his left up to adjust that as well. "You may wield my father's saber for now, but I think you're likely to find more fluidity in a variable length saberstaff."

"Staves just feel... easier," she answered.

Luke chuckled. "And how many times did you bash your knees while you learned to defend yourself with one?"

"A couple..."

He didn't dignify her words with a response, but then again the appropriate response was likely to laugh so perhaps she should be glad of that. "Again," he said, stepping back. "Until the movements come without thinking."

She began again, and again, two more times coming with a fluidity that surprised her, until Luke stepped before her and drew his own blade.

"Again."

He was standing right in front of her! But... well clearly he did not mean for her to strike him down, she began, lunging towards him and he parried easily. Her next moment in the pattern would have been an overhead block, which she did after a moment's hesitation, finding that Luke had struck overhead in response.

As soon as she let herself go she realized exactly what they were doing, her dance changed from a solo performance to a duet, two pieces of the pattern coming together, where before she saw only her attacks, parries, and ripostes, instead she saw how they fit into the larger flow of a lightsaber battle, how certain strikes from Luke opened him up to counters from Rey, and vice versa.

When they finished, Rey found herself lit up in excitement at the revelation.

"It... they fit."

Luke smiled slightly. "All of the old Jedi lightsaber form katas have a matching counterpoint kata. You cannot rely on them in all things, but to someone who is less well studied in the old ways such knowledge of effective point and counterpoint can be... a benefit."

"Kylo," Rey said, even though she knew what the response would be from Luke, and it came moments later with a downcast gaze and a deep pain.

Rey reached out, touched his shoulder, and rather than leave it as a quick squeeze, she left her hand there, giving her Master what support she could.

"After his... fall," Luke began. "Darth Vader became limited by his body, if not by the strength of the Force within him and his focus. His former heavy use of the more acrobatic lightsaber forms from his time as a Jedi Knight, Anakin Skywalker, became limited. My... nephew took these lessons to heart, and declared such forms unfit for someone with the inner strength and discipline to fight with little extraneous movement and energy."

Rey frowned, her hand still on Luke's shoulder, but she considered what he said. "Is he... right?" She asked. "Extra movement is extra energy wasted that you can't use to fight."

"And if the movement allows you to reposition tactically, or you opponent's arm has been injured, or there is blood at the corner of his eye..."

"A Jedi doesn't rely just on what she sees," Rey countered his last point.

"No, but that doesn't mean our awareness of our surroundings is always perfect."

Luke stepped back in a flash, his saber out, ignited, and slashing towards her in a split second. Rey brought her own saber up and blocked it before the strike came down on her head. Her Master spun, slashing at stomach level and rather than return to his position in front of her after she blocked, he slipped past her, striking down at the back of her head, which she could only respond by bringing her saber above her head, and he slid the blade down hers, and she didn't have to move to feel the soft heat of the saber tip at her back.

"The lesson is taken to heart, Master."

And lest she need any more proof, he was also not limited by his own age in his movements, still spry and quicker than her with the saber.

"Good," he said, turning off his saber. "I'll not lie and tell you this is some secret weakness of his, but over-confidence hiding deep fear is a frequent mark of the Dark Side."

Rey nodded, extinguishing her own saber while they headed back to the house. "I know this must be... difficult for you."

"I only learned of the many mistakes made by my own masters after their death... so yes, to you I will admit this is hard."

The admission seemed to unlock something in her, and now when she saw or felt the edges of sorrow and mourning in Luke's face or spirit she would reach out to him. It became the easiest thing in the world. After a time, Luke reached back, a touch during training, but then a congratulatory touch after a good day's work, and then it just... was.

Their minds touched frequently in training, and it seemed only natural that their bodies followed. Two people unused to such intimacy relearning that they were human, that they were allowed to feel something other than hollow and alone.

With touch came... longing, and a warm happiness that floated in Rey's chest between touches, and it always just seemed natural, that they belonged to each other to touch, to comfort, and to cling to. It took her long enough to notice it for what it was, not the comfort of friendship she felt with Finn, something more, or different...

The charge that went through her when she brushed her lips to Luke's as they sat by their dinner fire told her all she needed to know. She felt complete until he pulled away.

"Rey."

"Luke."

"I'm old, and too far gone into my own sorrow to give you anything you deserve."

"I..." She did not know how to argue, only that she had to. "I... if I have learned anything, it is that I am human and I am allowed to feel and... I feel for you."

Luke didn't answer for a few moments, but he eventually reached out and threaded his fingers through hers.

It was only natural that they sat thigh to thigh, that instruction would come with touch, that sleep would come tangled together with a partner, and a congratulation would come with a kiss.

More than that was slow to come, but it didn't matter, tangled together body and mind, the two of them filled the empty spaces in each other's hearts and allowed long-open wounds to heal.


End file.
